Holy sh*t! I don't even know how to react to this. Thanks a million! Really!!!
I did it on a whim
.
Actually another poster once did the same for me as a thank you for giving some advice about a future quest, so I'll think of it as paying it forward.
And really, this quest was an amazing surprise, especially coming from a completely new writer. Please continue the good work
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Velvet Covers is a "perfectly neutral" main character when it comes to lore affinity. Of course, i always check your current highest lore and tweak your mindset to it, slightly.
But if you start your own cult, you will pick what its focus will be. From scratch. So dont worry about that.
You know, an interesting take would be that advancing too far in a single lore without having the other turns you to an inhuman mindset, but advancing all Lores more or less in
harmony (pun sort of intended) might very well be the key to keep your own humanity (equinity?) while also progressing in power and knowledge.
The various influences from the Lore would simply balance themselves!
Could a cult based on this principle be possible in case? of not focusing on a single Lore, but spreading out in as many of them as possible as to keep yourself grounded? And for those who are not talented in multiple lores, why, that's what friends are for! hopefully friends gifted in you opposite/complementary lores!
My Little Cultist: Friendship is Power!
Oh wow. It took me a lot more than that to get through that damned Name and his damned Door.
I tried all my... I think they're influences? whatever-they're named cards on it, and luckily I had one that worked as an answer.
I did remember things from my last play, so the very beginning was easier for me (the basics of work/study/dream basically. I didn't get much further than the first half-hour or so that time).
Also damn but it was a surprise when the board changed to the Mansus! I even met the equivalent of Baldomare right then and there!
I also still have a lot of books to study from my one and only attempted expeditions. I got something like 6-7 books, but it left me completely broke!
I've yet a long to understand. I only managed to use a single ritual to induct my second cultist, for example. I'd love to hold more of them, but I can't manage to get the right combination of cards...
I think I'll leave the game for a few days though. I want to show it to a friend, maybe play a few hours together. I think she'd like it.
Indeed. Sorry I didn't mention you there by name; you were the main person posting that idea.
oh, don't worry, I'm just joking a bit
I think it is a workable approach overall, though revealing ourselves to the princesses means putting ourselves at their mercy - and given that we are PERSONALLY responsible for enabling the ritual that hurt Luna, I'm not sure how much mercy we can count on. Not to mention the possibility that the Alicorns are hostile to Mansus Lore on general principle...
And of course even if that turns out okay, the Master is not a threat to be taken lightly. As you mention it is not clear what his restrictions on working in the Wake are, but regardless of those, unless we forswear journeying to the Mansus he can probably find us there. Maybe he is sworn to inaction (or otherwise limited) in general, but frankly I don't know if we can survive his wrath.
And of course, even if we survive both Celestia and the Master, that still leaves the fundamental problem that is THE END OF THE WORLD. And it is certainly nice to shout idealistic slogans to the world about needing to take a better way - but at the end of the day, it would be a bummer if that caused us to doom existence to being devoured by what might as well be embodiments of suffering.
I think there is a path forward here, and like I said it might be an interesting read, which is why it has my vote. But let it not be said that this path forward is a SAFE path.
I think that, after Luna was recovered and mostly stable/sane, we'd get our chance. I mean, they gave DISCORD a second AND a third chance, they accepted Starlight, They accepted the changelings (and Starlight tried to get Chrysalis to reform as well)...
I also don't think they're necessarily AGAINST the Mansus Lore, though they'd certainly wish for it to remain something secret/limited. Which is why I think a secret organization/cult that researched it with the crown's blessing and under some level of scrutiny and control would be in the table.
Who knows, maybe Harmony is just another name for the Glory, or a splinter from it. At the very least we KNOW they have the best intentions, and while Equestria's light might be a danger to itself, there's no denying that they DID make life better for the common pony. And with the advent of Princess Twilight and her school of Friendship...
But of course the master is certainly not going to take this lightly.
Maybe, in time, we might be able to convince him that there is another, better way than what he wants, but that time is certainly not near. We might find ourselves working together again at some point, (this IS still an mlp quest, and redeeming a villain, or even a misguided whatever he/she/it is, is certainly not out of the question), but in the meantime we're certainly in danger.
It's a risky path, and certainly not the only valid one. We could also stay inside, waiting for the perfect moment. Maybe try to play double-agent once we get close enough to Twilight as to be able to trust her sending a message to Celestia/Luna, and maybe asking Luna to only contact us in our dreams.
Or we could stay at our master's side, wary but willing to toe the line, as long as we don't cross it. He DOES have some good points.
It's easy to say that there must be a better way, but in the end he caused the death of..what, 32 ponies? that's nothing.
Governments have sacrificed much more to win single battle, let alone war. 32 lives are NOTHING compared to the whole world.
the fact is that it wasn't necessary. And if Velvet thinks she knows better, that she could do better than him by working with the princesses instead of against them... that maybe Harmony might be an ALLY instead of an enemy or a tool.. well, that's a good motivation for a betrayal, be it covert or flagrant.
